The 68th Hunger Games
by bookworm0000
Summary: Lola Heavenbee is a 16 year old girl from District 11. Her best friend is Liam Router. What will happen after one of them gets reaped? READ TO FIND OUT!
1. Chapter 1

The first rays of sunlight gleam onto my face and wake me from my slumber. I yawn and get out of bed. Usually, I would be smiling, but not today. Today is the day of the reaping. It's hard on everyone in District 11, especially the families of children from the ages of 12 to 18. I sigh. This will be my 5th year of the horrid reaping. I quickly get dressed and walk out of my room and into the bathroom. I comb through my shoulder-length dark brown hair. I try styling it over and over again, but eventually give up.

"Lola Heavenbee, get down here and eat your breakfast!" my mother calls from downstairs.

"Coming, Mother!" I scream back at her.

I rush down the stairs and into the kitchen. I sit at the small table across from my mother. My dad is at her side and my older brother is next to him. They all look worried. My brother, who is 18, has his name entered 11 times. Mine is only entered 5 times, since my brother wouldn't let me enter my name for tesserae. We ate our breakfast consisting of bread and a few berries I picked the day before in the meadows outside of District 11.

"My! Look at your hair!" my mother squealed at me. "What on Earth did you do to it?"

"I tried to style it," I replied with a shrug.

I finished my breakfast and walked out the door heading for the meadow. The meadow, the only place where I am truly happy. I smiled at the thought and started jogging, my basket swinging along on my wrist. I easily wiggled through a small hole in the electric fence that was never turned on. I was small and fast so it was easy for me. I walk until I find the stream. This is where my best friend, Liam, and I would meet every day. I sit there thinking of how many times his name is entered. He's 17 and has to provide food for his 4 siblings, himself, and his mother since his father died from a harsh whipping after being caught by a Peacekeeper trying to sell some salmon he caught in the stream. His name is entered 12 times.

"Hey Lola!" I hear someone call from behind me.

I smile. "Hey Liam!"

I turn around and see him inches away from me. My olive skin fails to hide my blushing

Liam lets out a slight chuckle. His dark hair blowing in the wind. The sun shines perfectly on his tan skin. It's obvious why all the girls at school fall head over heels in love with him.

"It's reaping day," Liam stated, obviously trying to make me not feel so embarrassed.

"Yep," I sighed.

"How many times is your name entered?" he asked me.

"Only 5 times," I reply.

We start to pick a few berries that are scattered among the meadow. After our baskets are full, we sit in the tall grass, the sun shining down on us. By the looks of where the sun is, I would say it was around eight.

"I guess I better go to get ready for the reaping," I say while stranding up. The reaping wasn't until noon and, I didn't need that much time, but I still left.

While I walked away I heard Liam call out, "Happy Hunger Games!"

"And may the odds be EVER in your favor!" I shouted back.

I walked to the town square and to the back door of the bakery. I knock four times on the door. The baker answers the door. When he sees me, he silently walks to one of the shelves, and grabs four fresh loaves of bread. I hand him the basket and walk away with the loaves of bread in my hands. I get home, set the bread on the counter and walk into the bathroom to find the wash bin ready for me. I quickly wash up and wrap myself up in a towel. I walk into my room and find an outfit set out on my bed. It was a beautiful dress. The dress started of a dark grey at the top. There was a silk ribbon cutting this part off from the rest. Under the ribbon was a lighter shade of grey then a shade between white and grey. At the bottom was a shade of dark blue. I quickly dressed into it and examined myself in the knee-length dress.

I checked the time. It was almost noon. I quickly strapped on a pair of sandals and raced down the stairs. My brother was already waiting for me. He wore a simple blue button-down shirt with black pants and black dress shoes. We walked to the Town Square with our parents in silence. After getting our fingers pricked, my brother and I went off to our separate sections. He went to the front of the group with all the 18 year old boys while I went towards the center with all the 16 year old girls. I stood there waiting nervously.

"Attention, Attention!" the District 11 escort, Holly Monique, spoke in her silly Capitol accent into the microphone. "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be EVER in your favor! Now here is a video all the way from the Capitol!"

The video was about five minutes long. Nobody ever pays attention to it though. It's just the same thing every year. It tells about how the Hunger Games were created and blah blah blah.

Next, the mayor comes up and gives a speech about pretty much the same thing. I look over and see Liam giving a sign of boredom at me and can't help but giggle.

"And now we shall choose our tributes for the 68th Hunger Games!" Holly Monique's voice rang out across the square. "Ladies first!"

I clenched my fists. My name is only five in thousands. I don't know why I'm worried but I just am.

Holly dips her hand into the glass bowl and pulls out a slip of paper. She walks back to the podium and reads the name,"Clara Newman! Come on now, don't be shy!" A 17 year old girl walks up to the stage. She's shaky, nervous, and looks like she's on the verge of tears.

"Now onto the boys!" Holly Monique exclaims. She pulls out a paper and hobbles back over to the podium. "Liam Router! You are the boy tribute for his year's Hunger Games!"

I freeze.


	2. Chapter 2

Liam slowly walked up to the stage. I could feel my heart sink when they asked for any volunteers and no one came up. If I could volunteer, I would. Liam and Clara shook hands and walked off the stage. They were led into the Justice Building where they would get one hour to have visitors and say goodbye to their loved ones. I quickly follow behind them wanting to be the first visitor Liam gets. I start running towards the area they led Liam into. I accidentally bump into a Peacekeeper and quietly slide past him before he notices me.

Without knocking, I barge into the room where Liam was sitting. He's sitting on the couch and looks a little startled as I jump into his lap. I lean my forehead onto his neck, where it has always fit perfectly, and sob into his shirt. He sits the stroking my back and whispers soothing words into my ear. I look up at him and see he's crying too.

"You have to win," I say.

"I know," he replies. "I'll try my hardest."

"No!" I scream. "You can't just try your hardest! You HAVE TO win!" I'm fully aware of the tears trailing down my cheeks now as I'm screaming at him. I'm about to say something else when I'm cut off by all of my tears.

"The first thing you do when you get into that arena is grab a bag. Grab a bag, a spear, and maybe some knives. Grab whatever you can and get out of there!" I tell him. "Don't stay and fight in the bloodbath. That's a sure way to get killed," I start off again.

"I know, Lola." he says in a soothing voice.

"I-I just don't want to lose you," I say, starting to cry again.

Just then a Peacekeeper walks in. "Times up," he says in a gruff voice. I hug Liam and the Peacekeeper drags me away. I get one last look at Liam the door slams in my face blocking me off from him. Possibly forever. No, not forever. I know that is he doesn't win, I'll see his lifeless body in a wooden crate. That would possibly be the last time I see him.

The rest of the hour is horrible. I sit on the Justice Building steps rocking back and forth. Finally, they let the tributes out and I watch as they board the train. As the train rides away I see Liam mouth something to me. At first, I'm confused because I don't know what it was. Then I realize it. Keep them safe. Keep them safe? Keep who safe? Then I realize it's his family!

I start to walk home but change my mind. I sneakily head towards the meadow being sure not to get caught. I wiggle through the small hole in the fence and rush towards the stream. Just this morning, Liam and I were here. We were happy and laughing. It seemed so perfect. Now, it's just me, all alone without Liam. A sudden fear rushes through me. What is I never see him again? What if I never get to hear his laugh one last time? I sit there and think about all this stuff rushing through my head. Before I know it, there are tears streaming down my face. I can't live that way. I can't live without Liam's voice or his smile or laugh. I can't live without Liam. This of course makes me cry harder, if possible. All of this stuff is just racing through my head and I start to feel dizzy.

I stand up, guessing that it's getting late and sneak back to my house. I'm in time to watch the reaping. Both tributes from 1 and 2 look strong. The tributes from 5 look like they won't even last the bloodbath. The girl tribute from 8 looks smart while the boy looks shaky and nervous. I don't bother catching their names because it won't really matter if they're going to die. I sat there for a while staring at the fireplace until what I guessed to be around 10 and decided to go to bed. I dragged myself up the stairs and fell onto my bed, not worrying about changing into my pajamas. I dozed off into a deep sleep.

_Liam was standing there, on the platform. The countdown had already started. The gong rang out. Everyone ran towards the cornucopia. Liam got a bag. He was running towards a spear. It was only a few feet away. Suddenly, the girl from District 1 threw a knife at him. She hit Liam in the back. He screamed out in pain. Blood was gushing from the wound. The girl ran towards him to finish him off. She ripped the knife out of his wound. He turned him over and smiled evilly before jabbing the knife into his stomach. Everything faded to black._

I woke up screaming. Thank goodness that was just a dream!

I drag myself out of bed and do my normal routine for getting ready for school. No one was up yet so I decide to make breakfast. I open the fridge and find a few eggs, some berries, and butter. I slice up a loaf of bread and lather the pieces in butter. I take a bowl and pour the berries into it and set it in the middle of the table. I place the bread on a plate and set it next to the berries. By now my mom was up. She smiled and nodded a silent thank you to me and started cooking up an egg.

I sat on the couch waiting for breakfast to be ready. When it is, I sit at the table and start eating. I have one piece of bread a few berries, and a small portion of eggs. While I eat, I think about my dream. I'm so glad it was just a dream. If I lost Liam, I don't know what I would do! I wouldn't be able to go on with life.

I walk out of the house and into the dusty street and walk to the school. On my way, I run into my friend, Naomi.

"Hey, Lola!" Naomi screamed from behind me.

I stopped and let her catch up to me.

"I'm really sorry! You know, about Liam…."

"It's not your fault," I interrupt her, holding back the tears beginning to form in my eyes.

The rest of the walk to school was silent. The school day dragged on for what seemed like forever. At lunch I ate alone. I would usually be eating with Liam, but he's obviously not here. I can't help but wonder what he is doing right now. I look at the clock on the wall. It's only noon. They aren't in the Capitol now so that rules out getting prepared by the prep team. I sigh and move my lunch around with my fork. Thinking about Liam being in The Hunger Games makes me lose my appetite.

"Hey Lola," a voice beside me interrupts my train of thought.

"Hey Damien," I reply in a quiet voice. Damien is one of the most popular boys in school. He's never talked to me before. This makes me curious.

"So I heard about Liam going into the games," he replies.

"Yeah, everyone did," I say, my voice slowly getting louder.

"Well, I just thought you might need someone to talk to after he's dead," he replies, obviously annoyed.

"He ISN'T going to die!" I yell as I stand up from the table and walk out of the cafeteria. I'm fully aware of the people staring at me in shock. I run out of the school building and sit on the front steps. I put my head in my hands and start to cry. How dare he say that Liam would die! I know there's a possibility that he could die, but I didn't want to accept that fate yet until I saw it with my own eyes. I sit there for a few minutes before the bell rings. I get up and force myself to go back into the building.


End file.
